Welfare fraud suspects won’t fight extradition to Minnesota

A wealthy couple who lived the high life while reportedly collecting welfare benefits have agreed to return to Minnesota to face fraud charges.

Hennepin County officials confirmed Thursday that Andrea Lynne Chisholm, 54, and Colin A. J. Chisholm III, 62, waived their right to extradition proceedings and will be returned to Minnesota. But Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, said she could not provide details about the timing of their return.

The couple were tracked down in the Bahamas after an exhaustive search that ranged from the $1.6 million home the Chisholms rented on Lake Minnetonka to warmer destinations where authorities suspected they had fled. The Chisholms were brought to Florida, arrested and held without bail in the Broward County jail until their Thursday court appearance.

During that hearing, the couple signed paperwork indicating they would not fight extradition and would return to Minnesota to face charges, according to the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Authorities say the Chisholms portrayed themselves to neighbors and business associates as Scottish royalty, but as paupers to public assistance workers.

They were charged in March with making $167,420 in fraudulent medical and food-stamp claims in Florida and Minnesota from 2005 to 2012, a time when they reportedly had several million dollars in bank accounts, owned a $1.2 million yacht and ran a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel pedigree breeding business that produced an award-winning dog at the Westminster dog show.